Surgeons utilize various surgical instruments for performing surgical procedures. One surgical instrument commonly used is a surgical linear clamping and stapling instrument. Such a stapler is typically used for joining and repairing tissue. Another type of surgical instrument is a circular stapler, used to perform a circular anastomosis. These staplers, and many other types of surgical instruments, usually includes components that move relative to each other. For instance, a stapler may have a body portion that stores staples and an anvil.
During a stapling procedure, the anvil is caused to move toward the body portion in order to clamp a section of tissue. When the section of tissue is adequately clamped between the body portion and the anvil, staples stored in the body portion are driven into the tissue and closed against the anvil. In order to ensure that the section of tissue is adequately clamped, and to ensure that the staples are properly closed, the relative positions of the components of the stapler, e.g., the body portion and the anvil, should to be known by the user of the stapler device.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/723,715 filed on Nov. 28, 2000, which is incorporated in its entirety herein by reference, describes an electro-mechanical surgical system which includes a motor system, a control system and a remote control unit. A surgical instrument (e.g., a surgical attachment such as a surgical stapler) connects either fixedly or detachably to a distal end of a flexible shaft. A proximal end of the flexible shaft connects to a housing which encloses the motor system. Rotatable drive shafts are disposed with the flexible shaft and are rotated by the motor system. The remote control unit enables a user to control the motor system in accordance with software corresponding to the surgical instrument connected to the flexible shaft.
Surgical instruments, such as surgical staplers, may incorporate various control mechanisms, see, U.S. Pat. No. 5,915,616 to Viola et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,609,285 to Grant et al., to ensure the proper positioning and firing of the circular surgical stapler. Other conventional control and sensing mechanisms for use with surgical instruments include lasers, proximity sensors and endoscopes, see, U.S. Pat. No. 5,518,164 to Hooven and U.S. Pat. No. 5,573,543 to Akopov et al. Additional control features described may assist the surgeon in ensuring that the firing of the staples corresponds to the approach of the anvil toward the body portion. A number of conventional circular surgical staplers attached to a shaft are manipulated and actuated using hand held controls, see, U.S. Pat. No. 4,705,038 to Sjostrem; U.S. Pat. No. 4,995,877 to Ams et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,249,583 to Mallaby, U.S. Pat. No. 5,383,880 to Hooven, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,395,033 to Byrne et al.
When a surgical instrument, e.g., a surgical stapler, is connected to a drive shaft of a surgical system such as described above, it may be important that the components of the surgical instrument, e.g., the anvil, anvil stem and body portion, are properly calibrated in order to ensure proper functioning in conjunction with the control system. If the components are not properly calibrated, errors may occur in the operation of the surgical instrument and consequently the control system may lose its effectiveness. Furthermore, a variety of different types of surgical instruments may be used with the electro-mechanical device described above.
Thus, there is a need to provide a calibration system and method that provides improved effectiveness in calibrating the components of a surgical instrument.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a calibration system and method that provides improved effectiveness in calibrating the components of a surgical instrument.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a calibration system and method that enables different types of surgical instruments attached to an electro-mechanical surgical system to be calibrated.